Gigi Gryce
"Gigi Gryce " officially George General Grice, Jr.. (aka Lee Sears, born November 28, 1925 in Pensacola, † March 17, 1983 in Pensacola ) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and arranger. He also used the pseudonyms Basheer Qusim ( Islamic name) and Lee Sears.
Life and work
Gigi Gryce was one of the early hard bop musicians. His Saxophonton was influenced by both Charlie Parker as well as Lee Konitz. He was a member of the Jazz Messengers.
Gryce studied music (clarinet, alto saxophone, piano, flute) and composition at the Boston Conservatory and in 1952 as a Fulbright Scholar at Arthur Honegger in Paris. He played professionally since 1946 and had its own Big Band, among others with Horace Silver. After his return from Paris he worked with Howard McGhee and Max Roach. In 1953 he went with the Lionel Hampton - band - this Art Farmer - on tour in Europe and worked with Tadd Dameron and Clifford Brown. For its session in August 1953, which has appeared on the Memorial album, he also wrote compositions and arrangements. It was especially his compositions, such as " Nica 's Tempo" and works for larger ensembles, with which he built his reputation in the jazz scene. He also wrote for Stan Getz, Dakota Staton and Ernestine Anderson.
1955 to 1957 he worked with Oscar Pettiford, for which he also composed. In 1957 he played on Thelonious Monk album Monk's Music on the side of Coleman Hawkins and John Coltrane. In 1957 he became, together with trumpeter Donald Byrd Jazz Lab Quartet with Pettiford and Tommy Flanagan, with whom he also appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1957. Arrangements and compositions that he recorded for Blakey played on a ritual, Gryce was called there under the pseudonym Lee Sears, which is his wife's name. In addition Gryce with Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cleveland, Sahib Shihab, Art Taylor, Phil Woods and Kenny Clarke worked in quintets. From 1959 he led his own band again, but withdrew after his album The Rat Race Blues ( 1960) gradually from the jazz scene back to work as a music teacher.
Disco Graphical Notes
As a leader
As a sideman
- Clifford Brown Memorial Album ( Blue Note, 1953)
- Art Farmer: When Farmer Meets Gryce ( Prestige, 1954)
- Thelonious Monk: Monk's Music ( Riverside Records)